Scenes of Change
by Freline
Summary: After Zaknafein is resurrected at the end of Hero, he goes off to find Drizzt and is surprised at how much the society of the Drow and his own family have changed in the years since he was sacrificed to Lloth.
1. Chapter 1

Zaknafein slowly approached the entrance to the mines. He was almost there when he turned around to look at Jarlaxle, who smiled and encouraged him to go on. The mercenary leader could understand his friend´s hesitation, he would probably feel the same if he came back from the dead and found himself thrown into the strange new world that was called the Surface. Without a look back the Drow entered the mines, leaving Jarlaxle and Yvonnel, who suddenly appeared out of nowhere, alone on the mountain.

The farther he got inside, the more confident he became. The halls were completely empty, no dwarves were seen anywhere. Zaknafein walked for a long time, then he came to a set of large double doors, where he could hear loud noises, almost too loud for his sensitive Drow ears, but he carried on nonetheless, the wish to see Drizzt again after all these years was too strong.

He pushed open one side of the doors slowly and looked inside. All inhabitants of Gauntlgrym were seated on large tables and in the middle was a big open space, where a pair of halflings, one man and one woman danced to music, having eyes only for each other. As the music stopped, they were joined by a lot of other pairs, dwarves, humans and elves. He glanced around the room, but the face he was looking for was nowhere to be seen. Disappointed, he entered the room and let the door close again. At the sound of it, the ones sitting next to the door turned around, but shrugged. The sight of Drow on the surface was nothing new anymore since they had come to peace with Menzoberranzan almost a year ago, so they just assumed it was a late wedding guest.

The city´s new leader, Yvonnel Baenre II herself, had drawn up the peace agreement and made sure that it was acknowleged by all Drow in the city, she had also established a well functioning trade, which benefitted both sides. She had excused herself for the celebration, saying that she had a more pressing matter to settle with her uncle Gromph in Luskan.

Undisturbed, Zaknafein went further into the room and then he finally spotted Drizzt´s face. He was sitting on a table at the other end of the room, with a few other Drow who laughed at something he said. It was not a sight he would ever have expected and he was looking forward to the explanation on how it had come to that. He watched his son for a while before making his way over to him and his friends. At the sight of him, Drizzt almost dropped his glass and stared at him in shock.


	2. Chapter 2

Catti-brie watched her husband from across the room. It felt good to finally see him accepted by his own race. After the day he had faced Lloth, resisted her and survived, which had quickly been heard by everyone in Menzoberranzan, many of the younger Drow, both male and female, that had not been full of the prejudice against the surface dwellers yet, had gotten curious and come to the Surface to meet Drizzt personally. Almost all of them had stayed and in the year that had passed since, he had become their mentor and their friend. With the help of the dwarves, they had built a city on the foot of the mountain, where Drizzt and Catti-brie now lived.

Shortly after, the new leader of Menzoberranzan, another friend of him, had offered Drizzt a place in her house and a position as a teacher in the academy. The other houses had of course protested, but stopped after they had been told in no unclear words that any attempt to hurt Drizzt would result in the death of the attacker. He now divided his time equally between his growing family and Menzoberranzan. From what Catti-brie had heard, they were almost finished with the new order in the city, which allowed the men to take a more active role in the ruling of both their houses and the city. At the same time, every Drow had been given the choice to worship any god or goddess he or she preferred, be it Lloth, Vhaeraun, Eilistraee or another, without having to fear of being cast out or killed. But even though they had reached some of the goals they had been aiming for, there was still a lot of work to do if they wanted to successfully reingrate the Drow into the life on the surface, which they had left so many centuries ago.

Just as she turned away, another Drow she had never seen before, approached the table. She saw Drizzt almost drop his glass in shock. She took her daughter Vierna from Donnola, who was currently holding her and went over. When she reached her husband, she immediately froze. The face was almost a mirror image of Drizzt´s own, except that the eyes were red instead of lavender. Without a doubt she knew that the one standing in front of her, was Drizzt´s father, Zaknafein. But she had no idea how it could be possible, since her husband had told her that he had been sacrificed to Lloth a long time ago.


	3. Chapter 3

Never before had Catti-brie seen Drizzt move that fast. He was already embracing his father before she even realized that he was no longer sitting on his chair. It seemed like hours before he finally let go of Zaknafein again, pushing him away a short distance, looking at him.

At the unspoken question Zaknafein sighed and said: "I do not know what happened. I just remember feeling at peace after being sacrificed in your place, then I was suddenly alive again. I was met by a Drow called Yvonnel, she brought me here, together with my old friend Jarlaxle."

Still speechless, Drizzt guided his father to the only empty chair left at the table, sitting down next to him and then introduced him to the others, saving Catti-brie and Vierna for last.

Looking at his son, Zaknafein remembered Jarlaxle´s words: "You will be proud." Indeed, he was. To think Drizzt had had the courage to leave Menzoberranzan, which was something he himself would never have done. But coming to the surface and making friends in all races living there was an even greater achievement, nothing to be said about marrying a human woman and having a half-drow child.

He spent the next few hours listening to his son telling him about the many adventures he had in the last hundred years, until the celebration ended and everyone went back to their home.

It was already dark when the Drow and Catti-brie left the mines and returned to their city. A few metres away, Zaknafein stopped and stared, which everyone could understand. The Drow had built it as a miniature version of Menzoberranzan, but instead of spiders there were huge statues of surface animals and in the centre was an even bigger one of a Drow with purple eyes.

At his father´s expression, Drizzt shrugged and explained: "I did not ask for it, they insisted. They view me as a hero, after I have resisted Lloth and survived. I was the reason there are Drow on the Surface again."


	4. Chapter 4

The following week was full of further surprises for Zaknafein. It became clear that the Drow living in K´lar del udossta ulin, as they called the city, which translated to "Place of our future", in the common language, had all accepted Drizzt as their leader. Most of them had come from Menzoberranzan, but there were some from the other cities as well and more were arriving every month, most of them still very young, not older than 40 or 50 years old. By the end of the week Drizzt asked him to come to Menzoberranzan with him, so that he could see the changes personally. Zaknafein accepted, feeling very curious and soon they stepped through a mirror in Drizzt´s house, which had been set up as a portal.

After their arrival, Drizzt excused himself and went to a meeting with the city´s leader, leaving Zaknafein to explore on his own. The changes were clearly visible. Though some Drow houses still had spiders everywhere, others had removed them and put other symbols, like stars, moons or animals, in their place. The area where the academy was had been extended and now housed twenty buildings instead of the three that had been here before, though Melee-Magthere, Sorcere and Arach-Tinilith still existed. He wandered through the buildings, noticing lots of scenes of the life on the surface with descriptions beside it.

After he finished his tour, Zaknafein returned to the meeting spot where Drizzt was already waiting, his head still full of shock at the unexpected changes. It was the first time he thought that he could be proud of being a Drow one day. Drizzt sensed his confusion and said: "I know that this is a lot to take in, I never would have expected that it would happen so fast, I thought it would take at least fifty years of me teaching at the academy to get them so far. Now I am thinking they were subconsciously waiting for someone to show them a new, better way to live."

At his son´s words, Zaknafein stopped abruptly and stared him into the eyes, he could not believe what he had just heard. Drizzt, noting his father´s expression, continued: "If you like you can accompany me to one of my lessons tomorrow. But now we have to go to House Baenre, Yvonnel is expecting me for dinner. She has made me, Catti-brie, Vierna and any future child we may have, a member of her house to protect us whenever we come here. I guess that now after you are back from the dead, the protection will be extended to you as well." With that, he turned and walked away, leaving Zaknafein stunned. It took a few seconds for him to recover, then he hurried after Drizzt. The spider fence that once surrounded the first house was gone now. In the place where it had been was a high stone wall with a door in the middle. Drizzt laid a hand on it and it opened without a sound, allowing the two men to enter. They were unnoticed until they reached the rooms of the Matron. The guard in front of the door bowed and let them pass.

A few hours later, after a meal like Zaknafein had never tasted before, Drizzt led them to the room he used when he was here. It looked like the entire chapel of House Do´Urden could be fitted in here easily. The two beds were big enough for three people at once and Zaknafein suspected they were used by Drizzt´s wife and daughter as well, whenever they came here with him. They both felt tired, it had been a long day, laid down on the bed on the left and were asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow.


	5. Chapter 5

The next day after breakfast they went back to the academy. The class, consisting of more than 200 Drow was waiting for them in the hallway. More than half of them, the ones who were preparing for a life on the surface, followed Drizzt into one room, while the rest, which Zaknafein suspected, still believed in Lloth, went into another. The lesson was mostly about the dangers of the surface and how they could be avoided without slaughtering innocent people, something which Zaknafein himself felt very interesting.  
Nearly at the end a frantic priestess, her insignia showed her to be a member of House Baenre, came running into the room and shouted: "We are under attack! Ched Nasad has been ordered to destroy Menzoberranzan as a punishment of Lloth and they have brought every monster they could find. Goblins, Duergar, Illithids, Chwidenchas, Beholders and even a few Derro. How they manage to control these, I cannot even guess."

Before she had even finished her sentence, the room was already half empty, every student running in the direction of the weapons store. Drizzt and Zaknafein followed them a few seconds later and went to one of the balconies near the entrance of the academy, from where they could overlook the situation outside. They soon realized that it was far worse than the priestess had described. The city outside the academy was crawling with monsters, so they would have no chance to get out and inform their surface allies of the attack and even if they could, it would take more time than they had left to get them all here. Their only hope was that Catti-brie would notice they were missing early enough and come here with help. They just had to hold on long enough.

At the same time on the surface, Catti-brie woke up and heard Vierna crying in her sleep. She picked up her daughter from the crib and rocked her until she calmed down before she put her back inside and sat on her own bed, thinking about the nightmare she just had, where Menzoberranzan was being attacked. She could not shake off the feeling that it was real and had already started. The only way to find out was to get there herself. Within an hour she had summoned every Drow currently around and they were climbing up the mountain to inform Bruenor of her fear for her husband and his father. They reached the entrance to Gauntlygrym after another two hours and the dwarven guards looked shocked at their expressions. One of them ran ahead to inform Bruenor, who came to the throne room five minutes later, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Nevertheless, he seemed pleased to see her, but at the mention of her dream he looked like he could not fully believe her. But he was ready to go and see, just so that he could show his daughter that dreams were dreams and nothing more.

At the end of the night, he had assembled Wulfgar, Regis and every dwarf who was willing to come with him. Before they left, Catti-brie gave Vierna to Donnola, knowing that the halfling woman would take good care of her daughter if she and Drizzt never returned. They quickly said goodbye to everyone who stayed and walked into the tunnels leading to Menzoberranzan, everyone hoping that she was wrong and everything there was alright.


End file.
